The Indian market ended a range-bound session modestly lower on Thursday, as lingering concerns about global growth continued to spook investors.
Also, a spike in crude prices overnight after a rare display of acrimony and disagreement at OPEC talks on lifting production and domestic data that showed India's food inflation accelerated to an eight-week high in late May rekindled inflation and interest rate worries ahead of the RBI's monetary policy review meeting due next week. Industrial output data that will be out tomorrow is likely to offer further clues on future interest rate hikes.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex moved in the range of 18,450- 18,327 before ending down 9 points or 0.05 percent at 18,385, while the broader Nifty index eased 6 points or 0.1 percent to 5,521. Second-line stocks also saw little change and the market breadth was slightly negative. Sector-wise, auto, healthcare, IT and banking stocks drifted down, while consumer durable, capital goods and power stocks witnessed stock-specific buying.
As per government data released today, annual food inflation for the week ended May 28 rose sharply to 9.01 percent versus 8.55 percent a week before, as prices of essential items like fruits, meat, milk and onions increased. The latest numbers are the highest level of food inflation since the week ended March 26 when it stood at 9.18 percent.
Among the prominent decliners, state-run oil firm ONGC fell 1.8 percent and Oil India lost 0.8 percent after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report revealed that the companies have suppressed gas production figures, leading to a loss of royalty of at least Rs.865.99 crore to the Assam state.
Tata Motors declined 0.8 percent, weighed by widening spreads on its credit default swaps in the past one month. Maruti Suzuki shed 0.7 percent after a strike at its Manesar plant entered the fifth day.
Bharti Airtel slipped 0.1 percent amid reports that it is holding talks to share infrastructure in Africa. Rival Reliance Communication lost 1.3 percent on profit taking after rising yesterday on talk of tower asset sale.
Hindalco, HDFC, Reliance Infrastructure, Hero Honda Motors, SBI and Jaiprakash Associates fell between 0.6 percent and 1.9 percent. MTNL ended down 0.6 percent and HCL Infosystems slumped 5.7 percent on talk of CBI investigation in connection with irregularities in the Commonwealth Games scam.
Asian Paints fell 3.5 percent on going ex-dividend. Cox & Kings rose 2.3 percent after fixing the record date for a stock split. Power producer NTPC rose 1.7 percent, engineering & construction giant Larsen & Toubro gained 1.3 percent, power equipment maker BHEL added 0.9 percent, energy giant Reliance Industries edged up 0.7 percent and software exporter TCS closed up 0.6 percent.
Elsewhere, most Asian stock markets fell for a sixth consecutive session on Thursday on concerns about the global economic outlook after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. recovery was lagging.
China's Shanghai Composite index snapped three consecutive days of gains to end about 1.7 percent lower, as speculation spread that the People's bank of China will raise interest rates again on Friday at the earliest.
European stocks extended recent declines after a steady start ahead of an interest rate setting meeting of the European Central Bank, at which president Jean-Claude Trichet is expected to signal a hike in interest rates as early as next month.
Crude futures traded firm above $100 a barrel after OPEC unexpectedly left its production levels unchanged and a U.S. government report showed crude supplies dropped the most since December.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.